


Untitled

by AgeOfDissent



Category: Touhou Project
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-26
Updated: 2020-12-26
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:29:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28336977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AgeOfDissent/pseuds/AgeOfDissent
Summary: As Akyu's work on the Gensokyo Chronicle nears completion, Remilia delivers some troubling news.
Relationships: Hieda no Akyuu/Reader
Kudos: 5





	Untitled

**Author's Note:**

> An old Touhou fanfic I made years ago while I was bored on a plane. I originally wrote it by hand in a notebook, then transferred it to a Word document and forgot about it until I stumbled upon it the other day. It's a little rough around the edges and I don't have the energy to clean it up, but I still like the core idea well enough to post it. Other than some slight formatting changes it's unmodified from when I originally wrote it around 10 years ago.

“Today’s the last one. Excited?”

“More like relieved. Seconds, please.”

Akyu holds out her bowl and I respond by ladling in some more miso soup. We’re eating our usual breakfast of soup and rice balls, so today doesn’t feel special.

“Who’s on the schedule for today?” I ask as I pass her bowl back.

“Remilia Scarlet, another vampire.” Akyu blows on her soup gently to cool it down before taking a sip. 

“It’s a bit strange, but she was actually the first one I interviewed. That was the day you dropped in. I offered to continue it the next day, but Remilia insisted she be the last one.”

Indeed a strange request. However, youkai are prone to having their whims, so neither of us pursue the topic. Thinking back, it’s been almost a year since I arrived here. I don’t much understand it myself, but one day I woke to find myself with a severe headache in a house…nay, a world I didn’t know. I awoke in the house of Hieda no Akyu, who I would later find out is the ninth incarnation of a historian who chose to be reborn every 130 years. A ridiculous story, but I soon found myself having to accept it as truth. The girl in front of me, though her body has only seen twelve summers, has the memory of a thousand years. Each incarnation is dedicated to producing the most recent edition of an encyclopedia documenting the people and places of this world named Gensokyo. This compendium is aptly named the Gensokyo Chronicle. For the past year, Akyu has been interviewing notable denizens of Gensokyo. Her guests have been more fantastic than I would have ever imagined: fairies, demons, tengus, ghosts…I could go on.

Today is the last interview. Akyu tries her hardest every day, but I can tell she’s getting worn out. We’ve just finished eating and were enjoying some tea when a gentle tapping comes from the door. Akyu stands up, pads over to the door, and slides it open to reveal the last interviewee. Remilia curtsies gracefully to respond to Akyu’s bow and enters, shutting her parasol in the process. Akyu informed me that Remilia prefers black tea, so I pour a cup from the pot I brewed earlier and place it in front of the least-menacing vampire I could have imagined. My job during these interviews is to record the important things said, so I place a hand on the familiar brush and wait for their small talk to finish.

“You’re younger every time you do this, dear. I almost expect to be talking to an infant next time.” Remilia laughs at the prospect while Akyu just smiles.

“Well, it’s better to get this out of the way as early as possible. Anyway, shall we begin?”

“We could…” Remilia trails off and glances between Akyu and me. “But it would be far more interesting to hear how you two have been doing together.”

Ah, right. Akyu and I hit it off pretty well from the start, but we started dating about six months ago. It more or less officially started at New Year’s. We had been getting closer to each other until then, but that was when we confirmed our feelings for each other. It felt a bit awkward at first to be romantically involved with someone who appears so young, but her mind is truly that of an adult. We’ve sort of been keeping it a secret, even from Akyu’s family. We started out keeping quiet about it because we wanted to make sure it was going to work out, but it sort of became a game after that. Anyway, there’s no way this person who I’ve never seen before could know about us so…why?

“What are you talking—“

“Wait.” Akyu cuts me off. “Remilia can see people’s fates. It’s natural that she knows.”

Remilia’s smile turns into a bit of a pout as she hears this.

“Oh, come now. I could be a busybody and snoop into other people’s lives, but that spoils all the fun. What’s the point in watching a drama if you already know the plot?”

“I’m not interested in riddles or games.”

Akyu has a pretty severe expression. I’ve rarely seen her looking so serious.

“Hum…how boring. If you won’t play along, I’ll just have to cut to the chase. You remember the first time you interviewed me, right? Of course you do. You remember everything.”

Akyu doesn’t respond, but keeps glaring at Remilia. She looks pretty tense.

“Well, as you stated I can see and manipulate fate. The specifics are far more complicated than I wish to go into, but let’s say for now that it’s like a web. Everyone is connected to everyone else by threads, and those threads hold the fate that lies between us all. Different fates look different. To be brief, I’ll assume you’re familiar with the ‘red string of fate’ that connects fated lovers. I noticed that your red string, my darling Akyu, led outside Gensokyo. I couldn’t control myself and, no sooner than I gave it a little tug and this fellow came crashing in.”

Remilia winks at me, obviously having a great deal of fun. Akyu’s hands are clenched tight and I’m worried she might start bleeding if her nails dig any deeper into her palm.

“Get out.”

A tone I’ve never heard Akyu use. Just hearing it makes a knot form in my stomach. Remilia remains sitting.

“Oh, please. You would oust me before I finish my tea? You wound me. I at least wanted to hear what you plan to do with the little time you have left.”

At this, Akyu slams her hands on the table and stands up, looking to be on the verge of tears.

“Fine, fine, I get it…”

Remilia holds her hands up as if to show innocence and quietly leaves. I see her silhouette through the door open her parasol and fade away.

I slowly stand up and put my hands on Akyu’s shoulders. She shrugs them off, but I insist. I can feel her trembling through her kimono. I pull her small body into a hug and she finally breaks down and starts weeping. Though I want to ask what Remilia meant by “little time left”, I doubt it would do any good right now. I wait until she calms down and suggest we go for a walk. She nods slowly and we leave the house.

We leave the village and head down a small forest path that passes by a river. We stop at our usual spot – a ledge of rock overlooking some gentle rapids – and sit down. Akyu told me she used to come here a lot when she wanted to be alone, but she’s brought me along several times. We’ve had some good memories here, and even shared our first kiss at this location some months ago. Akyu usually sits with her legs dangling off the ledge, swinging them happily with a small smile, but today she’s hugging her knees and looking wistfully off into space.

I don’t want to break the silence, but a question’s been nagging at me.

“Akyu…what did Remilia mean when she said you had little time left?”

Akyu doesn’t answer for what is undoubtedly one of the most painfully long minutes I have ever experienced. Then, finally:

“It’s something I didn’t tell you because…I didn’t want to accept it and I didn’t want to lose you.”

She pauses. I want to object already, but I keep quiet and hear her out.

“To be brief…each time I reincarnate, my lifespan becomes shorter. In this life, I likely won’t live until age 20.”

“Wha—“

I’m speechless. Why did she hide something so important? I could try to get an answer, but it’s moot at this point. But then what about the times we had talked of our future? What of our plans of getting married and living into old age together? Was it all just a sham? I can’t help but feel like I got played, but maybe this was her only way to cope with it. Still, only 8 years…I don’t even want to think of what happens after that. How am I supposed to go on living in this world when the person I love the most is gone?

“I’m sorry.”

Hearing Akyu’s voice startles me a bit.

“I didn’t mean to deceive you, but I didn’t want you to give up on me or be suffering until it’s time for me to go.”

I sigh.

“Don’t tell me you’re over a millennium old and this is the first time you’ve been in love.”

“Huh? Hey, I’ve been in plenty—“

“Then you should know that love doesn’t shatter that easily. If I left you because of something like that, you would have been better off without me.”

Akyu stays silent, but after a moment leans her head on my shoulder. I warp my arm around her and gently stroke her arm. After a long silence...

“I love you.”

“I love you too, Akyu.”


End file.
